There is an opinion that a meeting is an event that can be prepared spontaneously. In fact, this form of business interaction requires serious administrative training.
Topic of the meeting
The reason for the meeting should be formulated by the initiator. The most important participant in the meeting does not always act in this capacity. Based on the fact that meetings can be intra-corporate and with the involvement of a wide range of invitees, it is important to define the topic in such a way that it could attract all the people needed for the dialogue.
Typically, the technical formulation of the topic is handled by the administrative staff or directly by the meeting secretary. The agenda of the meeting follows from the given topic. This document includes all the issues that are planned for discussion. By prior agreement, a speaker is assigned to each question, who is assigned a time limit for his speech without taking into account the debate. The term of the discussion is fixed in the agenda separately.
For a better understanding of the issues, it will not be superfluous to prepare a handout that includes short references, statistics or any other informational information. The secretary prepares such materials with each speaker separately.
The final stage of documentary preparation is the development of draft decisions on each issue. This document represents the rapporteurs' proposed solutions based on the discussion. They record the final sentences presented by the speakers. If the participants do not agree with the option in the draft decision, the document is corrected by the secretary.
Invited persons
The agenda largely determines the approximate list of persons who should be invited to address the issues raised. So, a productive way is to invite people who have the opposite point of view with the speaker. In this case, the meeting serves as a "round table" for the parties to the disputable situation.
Meeting participants are informed by any available method - a phone call, e-mail or a personal invitation. The entire package of documents must be handed over in advance to all participating persons so that they have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the materials in advance.
Conducting a meeting
A secretary should be involved in the meeting. His task is to draw up a protocol following the discussion. In drafting the document, it is not the stenographic accuracy of recording the discussion that is important, but the reflection of key speeches and specific proposals.
In order to exclude possible discrepancies, it is better to record the course of the meeting on a dictaphone. All participants must be informed of the start of the recording.
